Helmut Zapf received his first piano and organ lessons from the parish priest in his hometown of Rauschengesees, Thuringia * 1974–79 studied church music in Eisenach and Halle (organ with Gottfried Preller and Hans-Günter Wauer) * 1978–88 took part in the Gera summer courses for contemporary music (mainly with Paul-Heinz Dittrich and Lothar Voigtländer) * 1979–82 choirmaster and organ player in the Thuringian town of Eisenberg * 1982–86 master student of Georg Katzer at the GDR Academy of the Arts in Berlin * since 1987, he has worked as a composer * 1993 founded the ensemble Junge Musik (an ensemble for contemporary music with pupils) * since 1994, he has been a member of the committee for „Jugend komponiert“, a composition competition for young people in the state of Brandenburg * since 1998, he has been a member of the committee of the music board of the state of Brandenburg * Hanns Eisler award from Radio DDR (1986), Valentino Bucchi award from the city of Rome (1987), award for most promising newcomer from the Academy of the Arts Berlin/Brandenburg (1992), first composition prize at the Weimar Spring Days for Contemporary Music (2003) * scholarships from the Villa Massimo in Rome, the Cité des Arts in Paris and the Künstlerhof Schreyahn in Lower Saxony * Helmut Zapf’s works have been performed at numerous international festivals for contemporary music, including Dresden, Donaueschingen, Witten (Days for New Chamber Music), the Berlin Biennale, the Darmstadt Summer Courses, the World Music Days of the IGNM in Luxembourg or “Time of Music” in Finland * Helmut Zapf lives and works in Zepernick near Berlin
Works by Helmut Zapf include:
psalmos (1988) for flute and harp
2 + 4 (1989/90) for six percussionists
dreiklang v (1992) for piano solo and three orchestral groups
rivolto (1989) für cor anglais (oboe), viola and double bass
“Extraordinary sense of tone, resulting from his ‘technical imagination’, and the ability to create forms, which gives his musical works an inner stability… an exuberant musical personality” – Berlin Academy of Arts
